Dedication of Examen poeticum. Discourse concerning the original and progress of satire. A parallel of poetry and painting. Dedication of the Aeneis. Translation of Virgil. Preface to the Fables. Notes. Appendices Index |
From inside the book
Page 257
In the first place , as he is the father of English poetry , so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer , or the Romans Virgil . He is a perpetual fountain of good sense ; learn'd in all 35 sciences ...
In the first place , as he is the father of English poetry , so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer , or the Romans Virgil . He is a perpetual fountain of good sense ; learn'd in all 35 sciences ...
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Common terms and phrases
according action admirable Æneas allowed already amongst ancient appear Augustus beauty beginning better betwixt Book called Casaubon character Chaucer common critics Dryden Edition English epic example excellent expression father fault follow forced French genius give given Grecian hero heroic History Homer honour Horace imitated instructive invention Italy judge judgment Juvenal kind language Latin learned least leave less living Lord manner master mean moral nature never noble numbers observed occasion opinion original painter Painting particular perfect perhaps Persius persons play pleased pleasure poem poet poetry Preface present proper reader reason reference rest Roman rules satire sense sometimes sort speak stage taken things thought tragedy translation true turn verse Virgil virtue whole write written
Popular passages
Page 272 - I shall say the less of Mr Collier, because in many things he has taxed me justly; and I have pleaded guilty to all thoughts and expressions of mine which can be truly argued of obscenity, profaneness, or immorality, and retract them. If he be my enemy, let him triumph ; if he be my friend, as I have given him no personal occasion to be otherwise, he will be glad of my repentance.
Page 247 - Milton was the poetical son of Spenser, and Mr Waller of Fairfax ; for we have our lineal descents and clans as well as other families. Spenser more than once insinuates that the soul of Chaucer was transfused into his body, and that he was begotten by him two hundred years after his decease.
Page 280 - Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee ? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia : and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth : and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
Page 258 - They who lived with him, and some time after him, thought it musical; and it continues so even in our judgment, if compared with the numbers of Lidgate and Gower, his contemporaries: there is the rude sweetness of a Scotch tune in it, which is natural and pleasing, though not perfect.
Page 299 - An ambassador is an honest man, sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.
Page 258 - Virgil: he is a perpetual fountain of good sense; learned in all sciences; and therefore speaks properly on all subjects; as he knew what to say, so he knows also when to leave off, a continence which is practised by few writers, and scarcely by any of the ancients, excepting Virgil and Horace.
Page 296 - I have followed all the antique poets historicall: first Homere, who in the persons of Agamemnon and Ulysses hath ensampled a good governour and a vertuous man...
Page 258 - For this reason, though he must always be thought a great poet, he is no longer esteemed a good writer; and for ten impressions, which his works have had in so many successive years, yet at present a hundred books are scarcely purchased once a twelvemonth; for, as my last Lord Rochester said, though somewhat profanely, Not being of God, he could not stand.
Page 258 - Chaucer followed nature everywhere, but was never so bold to go beyond her ; and there is a great difference of being poeta and nimis poeta,•* if we may believe Catullus, as much as betwixt a modest behaviour and affectation. The verse of Chaucer, I confess, is not harmonious to us ; but...
Page 262 - He must have been a man of a most wonderful comprehensive nature, because, as it has been truly observed of him, he has taken into the compass Of his Canterbury Tales the various manners and humours (as we now call them) of the whole English nation, in his age.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Dedication of Examen poeticum. Discourse concerning the original and progress of satire. A parallel of poetry and painting. Dedication of the Aeneis. Translation of Virgil. Preface to the Fables. Notes. Appendices Index Volume 2 of Essays of John Dryden, William Paton Ker |
| Author | John Dryden |
| Editor | William Paton Ker |
| Publisher | Clarendon Press, 1900 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 6 Mar 2008 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |